witnesses not heard?
Prosecutors continue to declare Karl-Erivan Haub dead
08/18/2023 5:31 p.m
Ex-Tengelmann boss Karl-Erivan Haub could still be alive, according to research by RTL and “Stern”. Nevertheless, the Cologne public prosecutor’s office has now refused to lift the declaration of death. She did not even contact at least one important witness.
In the case of the missing billionaire Karl-Erivan Haub, the Cologne public prosecutor’s office refused to cancel the declaration of death. “There were no concrete indications that could be verified that the missing person survived beyond the time of the declaration of death,” the Cologne authority told the “Stern”. The requirements for an application for annulment of the declaration of death are therefore not met.
Haub has been missing since a Matterhorn ski trip in 2018 and was pronounced dead by Cologne District Court in May 2021. However, research by RTL and “Stern” indicated that the former Tengelmann boss could still be alive. RTL investigative reporter Liv von Boetticher had received indications that he was said to have been in Moscow at least temporarily in 2021 – and that the family was aware of it.
Rumors persist that the former Tengelmann boss may have deliberately caused his disappearance in Zermatt in order to start a new life in Russia. Recently, the indications of a network of demonstrably criminal actors in the Russian economy with connections to money laundering and the Russian intelligence services have accumulated.
The clues that von Boetticher researched include photos from Moscow, but also information on payments made by his brother and current Tengelmann boss Christian Haub to Tengelmann’s head of security, who is investigating the disappearance of Karl-Erivan Haub together with a crisis manager and was supposed to provide the “final proof” that the missing person was still alive. According to information from Tengelmann circles, these payments were a performance-related payment.
“The man in the photos looks like Haub”
Von Boetticher handed over her research documents to the Cologne public prosecutor’s office, which initiated a review of the death declaration in May. “Information about the photos frequently mentioned in media reporting was also the subject of the examination. These should come from 2021 and presumably show the person who was declared dead,” the authority now explained. “However, since the recordings are neither available nor can they be obtained, the existence, authenticity and time of the recordings cannot be verified.”
For von Boetticher, the public prosecutor’s decision raises more questions than it answers: “I am irritated that at least one witness who had access to the photos has not yet been contacted by the Cologne public prosecutor’s office,” she told “Stern”. . It is not known whether any witnesses were heard at all. The authority had not issued a statement for weeks and attempts to contact RTL had been unsuccessful.
The journalist referred to photos that were said to have been obtained with the help of an Israeli-American company in February 2021 via Moscow’s biometric surveillance system. You cannot say without a doubt whether the person depicted on it is actually the missing ex-Tengelmann boss, said von Boetticher in an interview with ntv.de in May. “But the man in the photos looks like Haub. He’s wearing a thick blue winter jacket and a hat.” According to the reporter, local residents also want to have recognized him during an on-site visit by investigators.
The investigative agency had previously been commissioned by Christian Haub to provide the “final proof” that his brother Karl-Erivan was still alive. This was linked to a performance-related fee in the millions, which, according to witnesses, was paid out to Tengelmann’s head of security in 2021. A corresponding significant increase in the balance sheet is to be proven in the company of the head of security via the Federal Gazette.
Criminal complaint filed against brother
At the request of RTL and “Stern”, the public prosecutor’s office explained that the law on missing persons does not provide for any more in-depth investigations. A spokeswoman said that the authority’s right to request that a declaration of death be revoked was due to the public interest in revising a factually incorrect declaration. “This presupposes that, based on the knowledge available, one must actually assume that the declaration of death was false, so it is clear that the missing person survived the declaration.” The role of the public prosecutor’s office in the Act on Missing Persons differs significantly from its role in preliminary investigations, in which the authority is legally obliged to initiate investigations in the event of initial suspicion.
With regard to the photos from Moscow, the spokeswoman explained that these – even if they had been available to the public prosecutor’s office – would not have led to Haub’s declaration of death being revoked, since it has not been verified that the former Tengelmann boss was actually there in the year to be seen in 2021.
In May, von Boetticher also filed a nine-page criminal complaint against Christian Haub for false affidavit with detailed offers of evidence to the Cologne public prosecutor’s office. From a legal point of view, this procedure remains unaffected by the decision of the public prosecutor’s office on the declaration of death. The public prosecutor’s office refused to comment on the investigations in this case, citing personal rights.